![\"WikiLeaks](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/2024-06-25t011055z-2030862652-rc21i8a0zp5n-rtrmadp-3-usa-assange.JPG?q=w_1110,c_fill\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange boards a plane at a location given as London in this still image from video released on June 25, 2024. From @wikileaks\/X\/Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plea deal would credit that time served, allowing Assange to immediately return to Australia. The deal must still be approved by a federal judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because Assange was resistant to setting foot in the continental US to enter his guilty plea, a judge will conduct the hearing and sentencing together on Wednesday in Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, according to a letter filed by prosecutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pacific island chain is a US territory some 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) west of Hawaii and a US federal district court is based in the capital Saipan. The islands are also closer to Australia, where Assange is a citizen and is expected to return to after the court hearing, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What did Assange do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Assange was wanted by\u00a0US authorities on\u00a0espionage charges\u00a0connected to Wikileaks\u2019 publication of\u00a0hundreds of thousands of sensitive military and government documents supplied by\u00a0former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning\u00a0in 2010 and 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US accused Assange of endangering the lives of confidential sources by releasing the unfiltered cables and had for years been seeking his extradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He faced 18 charges for his alleged role in the breach and faced a maximum of up to 175 years in prison. British authorities had sought reassurances from the US that he would not receive the death penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stella Assange, the wife of Julian Assange, shared a photo of Julian appearing on a phone screen in Sydney, Australia, as he made a video call from Stansted Airport in London. #Free AssangeNOW\/#Free AssangeNOW\/Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Townsville, eastern Queensland, Assange started WikiLeaks in 2006 as an online repository that would publish anonymously submitted material, including the US military\u2019s operating manual for its detention camp in Guantanamo Bay and internal documents from the\u00a0Church of Scientology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2010, WikiLeaks was catapulted to global attention when it released video that claimed to show a deadly 2007 US helicopter attack in Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon after, WikiLeaks released thousands of classified US military documents relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a trove of diplomatic cables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assange described the documents previously to CNN as \u201ccompelling evidence of war crimes\u201d committed by US-led coalition and Iraqi government forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assange had long argued the case against him was politically motivated, that he would not face a fair trial, and his handover would violate the European Convention on Human Rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Free speech advocates condemned the extradition attempt, saying it would have a chilling effect on press freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August 2010, Assange was accused of sexual assault in Sweden and faced an international arrest warrant. He denied the allegations as \u201ca smear campaign\u201d and refused to go to Stockholm for questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He turned himself in to British authorities but while out on bail in 2012 as he appealed extradition to Sweden, Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy requesting political asylum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates’ court on April 11, 2019 in London, England. Jack Taylor\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n During his time in the embassy, WikiLeaks kept up its data dumps, including in 2016 when it released thousands of emails\u00a0apparently hacked\u00a0from the Democratic National Committee and\u00a0emails stolen\u00a0from the private email account of Hillary Clinton\u2019s campaign chairman, John Podesta, on the eve of the US election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But over time, his relationship with his host soured and Ecuador\u2019s president came under\u00a0pressure from the US\u00a0to expel him from the diplomatic bolt-hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, Assange was pulled from the embassy by London\u2019s Metroplitan Police on an extradition warrant from the US Justice Department, and spent the next five years living mostly isolated, in a 3- by 2-meter cell at Belmarsh prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prison has capacity for more than 900 inmates and is known for once housing infamous terror suspects such as the radical Egyptian cleric\u00a0Abu Hamza al-Masri\u00a0within its high-security unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There has recently been increased pressure for Assange\u2019s case to be dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May, London\u2019s High Court\u00a0ruled that Assange\u00a0had the right to appeal in his final challenge against extradition to the US, and US President Joe Biden had alluded to a possible deal pushed by Australian government officials to return\u00a0him to Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UN special rapporteur on torture and Amnesty International were among those who called on the United Kingdom to halt the possible extradition, citing concerns over the risk of abuse and other ill-treatment if Assange was sent to the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon his release Monday, Assange\u2019s wife, Stella\u00a0Assange, posted on social media, \u201cJulian is free!\u201d<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWords cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU- yes YOU, who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assange\u2019s mother, Christine Assange, said she is \u201cgrateful that my son\u2019s ordeal is finally coming to an end,\u201d in a statement obtained by CNN on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking in parliament, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, \u201cregardless of the views that people have about Mr. Assange\u2019s activities, the case has dragged on for too long. There is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Ecuadorian president Len\u00edn Moreno told CNN he is glad the Wikileaks founder won\u2019t be handed over to the US. Moreno withdrew Assange\u2019s asylum in April 2019, which had allowed him to stay at the South American country\u2019s embassy in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among those celebrating Assange\u2019s release were the presidents of Colombia and Mexico. \u201cAssange\u2019s eternal imprisonment and torture was an attack on press freedom on a global scale,\u201d said Colombian President Gustavo Petro.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WikiLeaks founder\u00a0Julian Assange\u00a0was released from a British prison and was making his way back to his home country Australia on Monday after his\u00a012-year battle\u00a0against extradition to the United States\u00a0ended in a plea deal. The controversial figure has spent the past five years in a high-security UK prison and nearly seven years before that holed up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,45],"tags":[1975,71],"class_list":{"0":"post-7104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-top-stories","9":"tag-julian-assange","10":"tag-united-states"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"Stella](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/assange-sydney-call.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFight against extradition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Julian](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/gettyimages-1136256458.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSupport for Assange\u2019s release<\/h2>\n\n\n\n